The Louisiana Boucherie

At dawn on a cold winter morning in Louisiana, folks gather around, hushed and heads bowed, as the Butcher’s Prayer is recited in honor of the pig soon to be harvested. A single gunshot rings, friends and neighbors prepare their posts, and a centuries-old Bayou State tradition begins.

A boucherie—which comes from the French word for butchery—is a traditional Cajun community hog harvest that began many generations ago, long before the advent of supermarkets or refrigeration. “Every family had to maintain their gardens; every family had sons who would fish or hunt to bring in game, and different times a year, communities would get together to share the wealth, so to speak,” says renowned chef and Louisiana food authority John Folse.

The sharing of wealth had nothing to do with monetary affluence and everything to do with feeding communities. Towns, neighbors, or sometimes just families would gather to slaughter a pig and spend the day finding creative ways to use each part. Because there were no refrigerators and freezers to safely